U2’s Bono Concurs with “Spider-Man” Bad Reviews

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U2 has announced their rescheduled 360 tour dates for next summer. Philly will welcome the band on July 14, 2011 at Lincoln Financial Field.

Updated at 4:06 AM EDT on Sunday, May 22, 2011

The troubled Broadway musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" isn't out of the dark just yet. Lately even U2's Bono, who helped create it, is defending the show's terrible reviews.

The singer, who wrote the show’s music and lyrics with his U2 bandmate the Edge, said in an ABC Nightline interview Friday that he sympathized with critics' disdain, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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"It might have been a little hard for some other people around here to take that, but we don't disagree with the New York Times," Bono said in the Nightline interview. "That's the sort of stuff we were saying backstage."

After months of previews and delays, “Spider-Man”—at $70 million, the most expensive Broadway musical ever—is now expected to open on June 14 at the Foxwoods Theatre with a revised script and new music, according to The Hollywood Reporter article.

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Ever since its previews began in November, the show has been plagued by a slew of actor injuries, and its opening has been repeatedly pushed back as costs skyrocket. Meanwhile, critics have panned it.

"'Spider-Man' is not only the most expensive musical ever to hit Broadway; it may also rank among the worst," wrote The New York Times' Ben Brantley in February of the show's preview version.

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All those problems led to a creative coup in which original director Julie Taymor, famed for her success with "The Lion King" on Broadway, was forced out by producers and replaced. The show's book has been heavily doctored, too.

"She got very close to it, so close, perhaps, that she couldn't see it," said Bono of Taymor. "And we were going out and coming back and we could see very clearly what we thought were the problems and she didn't think they were as big a problem as we did."

"If it's a big success, I think it serves everybody involved and Julie, as well, because, you know, this show is so much about the contributions she made," the Edge added.

Bono also said in the Nightline interview that in its current incarnation, the musical's storyline is clearer. He added that “there's lots of really obvious stuff that has been fixed.”

Recently, it was reported that Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who helped fix the “Spider-Man” script, has been hired by “Glee” as a writer-producer and is working on a remake of “Carrie.”